A charity set up in the name of a Caerphilly boy who died of cancer has had concerns raised over its finances.
According to a BBC Wales investigation, the Joshua Foundation, which provides holidays and trips for terminally-ill children, has owed between £300,000 and £400,000 for a decade to HM Revenue and Customs for over-claimed Gift Aid – a form of charity tax relief.
The charity has said it plans to sell off an asset to pay the bill once legal issues are settled.
The foundation, which is now based in Cardiff, was set up in September 1998 by Sarah Cornelius-Price. The charity was named after her son Joshua who was diagnosed with cancer in 1996. He died in December 1998, aged seven.
Mrs Cornelius-Price told BBC Wales the Gift Aid debt was as a result of the charity’s Oz Experience – an annual fundraising trip to Australia.
She said: “We claimed for everything to do with the Oz Experience, our overseas expedition which is still our biggest income generator.
“And then we were then told that you can’t claim on something if someone gets a benefit out of it.
“So because the youngsters get to go to Australia, that meant that every claim we had made in regard to that then became negated.”
Mrs Cornelius-Price, who is trained as a lawyer and is a former winner of the Welsh Woman of the Year award, said the charity’s subsequent gift aid claims were being retained by HMRC towards offsetting the debt.
She hopes to settle the outstanding debt, which is about £300,000, soon.
“We have an asset which is worth about equal to what the debt is at the moment,” she said.
“There are a few more legal issues to deal with but we will be announcing that we will be putting this asset on the market.”